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Throughout the history of Portland, African Americans living within the city have been subject to discrimination and hardship by the hand of whites living among them, but not willing to live beside them. For this reason, whites enforced housing regulations to concentrate most of the African Americans living in Portland into the Northeast reaches of the city, more specifically the Albina District. However, as African American inequality in Portland gathered more and more recognition, the blunt racism embodied by the restrictive housing covenants that had been imposed upon African Americans for decades became less and less acceptable by the 1950s. This caused the displacement of African Americans to take the form of Urban Renewal projects in the 1950s that were not publicly disclosed as African American displacement, but accomplished the same goal as the covenants of the early 20th century as their communities and homes were cleared to make room for these projects.

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Apr 18th, 9:00 AMApr 18th, 10:15 AM

African Americans In Portland, A History of Displacement and Exclusion

Throughout the history of Portland, African Americans living within the city have been subject to discrimination and hardship by the hand of whites living among them, but not willing to live beside them. For this reason, whites enforced housing regulations to concentrate most of the African Americans living in Portland into the Northeast reaches of the city, more specifically the Albina District. However, as African American inequality in Portland gathered more and more recognition, the blunt racism embodied by the restrictive housing covenants that had been imposed upon African Americans for decades became less and less acceptable by the 1950s. This caused the displacement of African Americans to take the form of Urban Renewal projects in the 1950s that were not publicly disclosed as African American displacement, but accomplished the same goal as the covenants of the early 20th century as their communities and homes were cleared to make room for these projects.